War in Croatia

On May 14th, we visited Jasenovac in the eastern part of Croatia. During World War II, land outside of this town was used as the site of a concentration camp. It had natural borders provided by the rail system and the Sava river. Over 75,000 people died at this camp. During its first years, only men were sent to this "work camp," but in its last year, women and children were also sent here. The camp could only hold 3,ooo-4,000 prisoners at a time, so often times when new prisoners were brought to the camp, they would be executed immediately. Serbs, Jews, Roma, and people of other nationalities were brought to this camp.

The buildings from the concentration camp are no longer standing. Local residents disassembled the buildings to get bricks to rebuild their homes. Mounds of dirt and depressions in the earth mark where the buildings once stood. A museum has been built to educate visitors about the camp, and a memorial "Stone Flower" has been erected to honor those that died.






On May 15th, we headed to the city of Vukovar. This city was heavily shelled and bombed during the Croatian war in 1991. It was the first main target of the Yugoslav military, and was under seige for three months. According to the 1991 census, there were 44,639 inhabitants; after the war, in 2001, there were only 30,126. Approximately 15,000 residents of Vukovar sought refuge in their basements, with limted access to fresh water, safe food, an energy source for cooking or heat, and medical supplies. Many people came to the Vukovar Hospital for refuge during this time. However, this location was not a safe haven as it should have been. The hospital was also bombed, with some shells penetrating through six floors all the way to the basement where the patients stayed. At one point, the military forced 266 people from the hospital, and took them to a hangar for one day where they were tortured and beaten. The next day, they were taken to a field and executed, buried in a mass grave. We visited the hangar (that is now a museum), the site of the mass grave, and the memorial cemetery where the exhumed bodies have been buried.





Our tour guide in Vukovar lived there during the war and stayed in her basement for part of the three months. She spoke to us of what it was like, living in her basement, eating food rations of bread and beans, having no electricity, and very limited amounts of water for drinking and bathing. She discussed the health effects of war that some of the people have sufferred in Vukovar. There has been an increase in cancers among the residents, increased aggression (that the children then develop from being around their parents), and post-traumatic stress disorder (from depression to reliving the trauma).







In addition to war causing high numbers of casualties, war can have an extreme impact on the infrastructure and health system of a country. Human resources are devoted to the war, while health services must attempt to continue, despite the fact that medical and health professionals may not be able to become recertified during war. Access to health care and services is disrupted during war. Whether people cannot leave their homes to get them, or if they have been displaced and do not have health services, this can have a major affect on health. Vaccines need to be kept cold in order to be effective, and equipment and supplies may be in high demand. It may also be hard to get to these services because roads and the buildings where these services are provided can be destroyed. War can also make it unsafe to leave your home or place of refuge to seek health care. In rural areas, resources may relocate to more needed areas. Also, health data is typically not accurate during wartime because there is no way to measure health in a population at war.

















Landmines are also a common problem that result from war. Many landmines are not activated during the actual war, causing problems for years to come. In some parts of Croatia, landmines have been deactivated, while in others, the fields have been marked off and signs instruct people not to enter. Landmines cause disability to the person that activates it, requiring more resources to treat this person. Landmines are commonly put in remote areas, so that whoever is affected by this (depends on the typical gender roles in the area) may not be near anyone else who could help them. Also, if there is a person near, they may not be willing to risk going into the field to help the person because there may be more landmines. About 75% of landmine victims die within 6 hours if they are not cared for promptly. Because landmines cause dirt to enter the wounds that are caused, infection is very likely, and can lead to blood vessel damage.
-Elizabeth